Ive talked about it before in our Aion Newsletter; in-game
holidays take us away from our everyday existence and infuse a bit of fun and
playfulness that we dont always see in our typical gameplay. These events are
the ultimate time sink because not only do they divert us away from the task of
character progression, but we take the diversion eagerly.Each game does it differently but few games are bold enough to leave the
holidays out. How did Aions Solorius Festival turn out this year?

After the minor disappointment over the games Harvest
Revel non-event, the announcement of the Solorius Festival that coincides our
Christmas and Hanukkah real life holidays was met with a bit of apprehension.
Would this holiday also disappoint? The patch just went in, but I still had a
little bit of fun checking out the festivities.

Deck the Halls

Both Sanctum and Pandaemonium have decorated the cities in
a gorgeous holiday theme. Youll find wreaths, lights, and trimmed trees with
gifts. Both cities are so pretty, but I admit, I think Pandaemonium looks
particularly amazing. Along with the decorations, both cities play very
soothing holiday music. Generally Im not a huge fan of holiday music, but its
pretty classy and tasteful so Im finding myself humming along rather than
turning down my master volume.

Each of the main cities has a lovely shop called the
Angelic Frippery with an NPC that sells costumes. It is here you will find a
couple new traditional style costumes and the lovely Solorius costume set,
antlers optional. The costumes are pretty spendy, approximately 160,000 kinah
per piece, but I couldnt help myself My main character, Truly, wants to know
just how naughty you have been this year!

Mm Holiday Nummies

The world invented holidays so Hallmark would have a
purpose and so that my rear end would get bigger eating all the holiday treats.
Luckily virtual goodies have zero calories so our characters can munch on
cookies and candy all they want!

Each city has a festival supplier, near the giant piano,
that has a few holiday things you can purchase. You can buy a stack of 10
fireworks to ring in the New Year with (or maybe just to randomly set off cause
they look really cool). Solorius cookies that will increase your physical
attack, cake that will add to your magic boost and magic accuracy, and wine that
will add to your natural healing and natural mana treatment are all also
available. These are all untradeable so sadly you cant buy for your friends
but hey, with treats this good, who the heck needs friends right?

Well Dressed and Well Fed

Now that we have awesome duds and have eaten a silly amount
of Solorius cake, it is time to go pounce around on the giant piano with a dozen
others! While it sorta ends up being a symphony of garbled noise that reminds
me of when my cat jumped on the piano keyboard, players can do some very cool
things if they coordinate efforts. Im hoping to see some videos soon showing
off creative mad music skills on this piano so if you happen to have one, link
it!

As far as in-game events go, its not terrible for a first
event but so much more could be done. Today is the first day of the event so
there could be more to come but I had been hoping for holiday themed quests and
special recipes for crafters so that in-game pals could gift items. If this is
it, Id give the Solorius Festival a B-. Its a nice effort, very festive and
cute, and the piano is fun. If NCsoft manages to add a bit more over the coming
days to spruce up the event, then they could manage to hit it out of the park.
Keep an eye out here atTen Ton Hammers Aion site for Solorius Festival updates. If we spot more,
well be sure to share!

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Aion
Game Page.